Lucy & The Rest of Life
Aug. 21st, 2023 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aLUCY
We had a very stressful appointment for Lucy today. She had an infection last week due to her feeding tube, and so we hit it with antibiotics for a week and have been carefully cleaning her stoma nightly, so today we got to find out whether she got to keep her feeding tube in or not.
Several days ago, I think we were both feeling that we'd likely be saying goodbye to our kitty this week, but the antibiotic seems to have done its work, and things are looking better, which means we can keep feeding her at this point.
More notably, with the antibiotic run its course, we can see if she has any appetite back after a few weeks of chemotherapy. We actually had some slight encouragement yesterday: she ate half a food of plate for dinner, but then yowled at us when we tube fed her the rest. As I said: slight encouragement.
The next week will really tell us much of the story: whether the chemotherapy is helping at all, especially as we're simultaneously hitting her with two anti-nausea drugs and are starting up an appetite stimulant again.
So I guess next Monday's appointment will be very stressful as well.
[a note on the picture: The sign reads. "Please don't hesitate to ask for an estimate. All payments are due after services have been completed." I always feel like they should embrace the rhyme: "Please don't hesitate / to ask for an estimate / All payments are due / after we're done with you. / We hope your cat's better / But you can't be a debtor. / So pay up now / And we won't have a cow". Or something like that.]
TEETH
Here's a major annoyance that I could have done without at this point: three weeks ago my dentist drilled two cavities right at my gumline. It was I think the most painful dental work I've ever had done (but then I was knocked out for my wisdom teeth extraction, many years ago).
Anyway, ever since I've been having pain over there. The dentist said I should expect some pain afterward because it had been "complicated" but I certainly hadn't expected three weeks worth.
Other complications: I knew the dentist was going on vacation the week after that work.
The sensitivity when biting and flossing seems to be decreasing, but I've been continuing to have a high level of sensitivity to cold water, to the point where it gets my whole jaw hurting for hours.
I finally called up the dentist's office today, despite the dentist still being out, and heard that this was normal when a dentist had to put in a filling very near a nerve, and that it was encouraging that it seemed to be getting better, because teeth often "adjusted".
And if not, then they'd need to do a root canal.
I can't help but feel like I had teeth that were fine and they've been totally messed up at a time I really didn't need it! I mean, I'm sure the dentist knows best, but I'd absolutely have put it on hold until after my Europe trip if I'd been told beforehand that it was "complicated" and there might be long-term repercussions. But the first time I heard that was AFTER the work had been done.
I have an appointment for one other cavity next Thursday. So the dentist will be able to look then if things haven't totally resolved. (And he swears this other one isn't complicated.)
EUROPE
And we're now three weeks away from my Europe trip to support Rebooting the Web of Trust. Honestly, I've been dreading this all summer. (It's been an awful summer.) Two months ago when we started Lucy on her pointless antibiotic course for a non-existent gallbladder infection, I could count up the weeks: that after a six week treatment we'd be halfway to my departure date.
And now we're half of that again.
I mean, maybe things will suddenly turn around thanks to the chemotherapy and finishing up with the newest antibiotics, but we've had so many weeks of back and forth, so much false hope, that it's hard not to just see a black hole ahead, where Kimberly has to deal with a sick cat on her own while I'm halfway around the world. (I've encouraged her to get help, but we'll see how it goes.)
WORK
Anywho, back to trying to work for the day. I've been doing great work for Blockchain Commons on my consulting days, because we had some very pragmatic web design to do, but my creative work on my other days has really been a push. Fortunately, I've got it laid in little bite-sized sections. Today, Thursday, and Friday I should be able to do three sections of two pages or so each, and then I'll be done with the last chapter of my Traveller history book, which is a big, big accomplishment, since I've been working on it since January 2022.
We had a very stressful appointment for Lucy today. She had an infection last week due to her feeding tube, and so we hit it with antibiotics for a week and have been carefully cleaning her stoma nightly, so today we got to find out whether she got to keep her feeding tube in or not.
Several days ago, I think we were both feeling that we'd likely be saying goodbye to our kitty this week, but the antibiotic seems to have done its work, and things are looking better, which means we can keep feeding her at this point.
More notably, with the antibiotic run its course, we can see if she has any appetite back after a few weeks of chemotherapy. We actually had some slight encouragement yesterday: she ate half a food of plate for dinner, but then yowled at us when we tube fed her the rest. As I said: slight encouragement.
The next week will really tell us much of the story: whether the chemotherapy is helping at all, especially as we're simultaneously hitting her with two anti-nausea drugs and are starting up an appetite stimulant again.
So I guess next Monday's appointment will be very stressful as well.
[a note on the picture: The sign reads. "Please don't hesitate to ask for an estimate. All payments are due after services have been completed." I always feel like they should embrace the rhyme: "Please don't hesitate / to ask for an estimate / All payments are due / after we're done with you. / We hope your cat's better / But you can't be a debtor. / So pay up now / And we won't have a cow". Or something like that.]
TEETH
Here's a major annoyance that I could have done without at this point: three weeks ago my dentist drilled two cavities right at my gumline. It was I think the most painful dental work I've ever had done (but then I was knocked out for my wisdom teeth extraction, many years ago).
Anyway, ever since I've been having pain over there. The dentist said I should expect some pain afterward because it had been "complicated" but I certainly hadn't expected three weeks worth.
Other complications: I knew the dentist was going on vacation the week after that work.
The sensitivity when biting and flossing seems to be decreasing, but I've been continuing to have a high level of sensitivity to cold water, to the point where it gets my whole jaw hurting for hours.
I finally called up the dentist's office today, despite the dentist still being out, and heard that this was normal when a dentist had to put in a filling very near a nerve, and that it was encouraging that it seemed to be getting better, because teeth often "adjusted".
And if not, then they'd need to do a root canal.
I can't help but feel like I had teeth that were fine and they've been totally messed up at a time I really didn't need it! I mean, I'm sure the dentist knows best, but I'd absolutely have put it on hold until after my Europe trip if I'd been told beforehand that it was "complicated" and there might be long-term repercussions. But the first time I heard that was AFTER the work had been done.
I have an appointment for one other cavity next Thursday. So the dentist will be able to look then if things haven't totally resolved. (And he swears this other one isn't complicated.)
EUROPE
And we're now three weeks away from my Europe trip to support Rebooting the Web of Trust. Honestly, I've been dreading this all summer. (It's been an awful summer.) Two months ago when we started Lucy on her pointless antibiotic course for a non-existent gallbladder infection, I could count up the weeks: that after a six week treatment we'd be halfway to my departure date.
And now we're half of that again.
I mean, maybe things will suddenly turn around thanks to the chemotherapy and finishing up with the newest antibiotics, but we've had so many weeks of back and forth, so much false hope, that it's hard not to just see a black hole ahead, where Kimberly has to deal with a sick cat on her own while I'm halfway around the world. (I've encouraged her to get help, but we'll see how it goes.)
WORK
Anywho, back to trying to work for the day. I've been doing great work for Blockchain Commons on my consulting days, because we had some very pragmatic web design to do, but my creative work on my other days has really been a push. Fortunately, I've got it laid in little bite-sized sections. Today, Thursday, and Friday I should be able to do three sections of two pages or so each, and then I'll be done with the last chapter of my Traveller history book, which is a big, big accomplishment, since I've been working on it since January 2022.